


The Marauders Require No Space

by Craftybadger1234



Series: Missing and odd moments: Fifth Year [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, Hogwarts Fifth Year, Marauders' Era, Nonsense, The Marauder's Map
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-02
Updated: 2018-10-02
Packaged: 2019-07-24 00:39:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 959
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16170032
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Craftybadger1234/pseuds/Craftybadger1234
Summary: Everyone thinks the Map doesn’t include the Room of Requirement because of its ever changing size and purpose. But it’s more likely the Marauders never needed it and never knew it was there.I tagged this fifth year because it was OotP that inspired the fic, not because it's the Marauders' fifth year.





	The Marauders Require No Space

**Author's Note:**

> I found all the ways the Room of Requirement was needed, and then wrote up the reasons the Marauders didn't need it. It's nonsensical, and maybe boring, but well... the Marauders didn't know everything and sometimes we need reminding of that.
> 
> Thanks to CleopatraIsMyName for looking this over for me! :)

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Ch 17

_“So,” said Sirius, “how are you organizing this group? Where are you meeting?”_   
_“Well, that’s a bit of a problem now,” said Harry. “Dunno where we’re going to be able to go…”_   
_“How about the Shrieking Shack?” suggested Sirius._

\--------

_Dumbledore needs a toilet_

“Hurry up!” James whined at the idiots trailing behind him down the corridor. “Why am I waiting on you anyway? I’m about to burst here!”

“Relax,” Remus said, suppressing a giggle when Sirius elbowed him. He nearly dropped the Map he was holding. “The toilet’s just up on the right.”

“You’re holding it upside down.”

“Right, sorry,” Remus snorted. “Just back here on the left.” He whispered to a little gargoyle statue that slid to the side revealing a small door.

“Stupid gits!” James growled. He elbowed his way past the two laughing boys and crawled through the door to the small room housing a single toilet and a tiny sink.

\--------

_Winky needs a place to recover_

“Why’d you drink so much?” Remus hissed as he dragged Sirius down the seventh floor corridor.

“It was a party!” Sirius slurred, doing his best to stay on his feet. “I don’t feel so good,” he groaned.

“Ugh, we have to get back to the Tower without getting caught.” He leaned Sirius against the wall and pulled the Map from his robe pocket. He groaned, “Curses! Miller is patrolling. He’s never going to let us sneak past.”

“I can throw up on his shoes if you think that’ll help,” Sirius mumbled as he slid to the floor.

“Somehow I don’t think it will. But I think we can hide out here.” He pointed to a small room that had a perpetually broken lock. “It’s past the usual patrol route so we should be safe enough there.”

Sirius eyed Remus sleepily, “Is there a bed?”

“We can transfigure something.”

\--------

_Filch needs cleaning supplies_

James wiped the purple potion from his face. “All right, so someone make a note that armadillo bile makes it explode.”

Remus wrinkled his nose and scribbled on his parchment. “I’m not cleaning that mess!”

“Thanks the gods for magic!” James waved his wand and the mess covering himself and the floor space in the center of their dorm vanished.

\--------

_Fred and George need a hiding place_

“Run! Run!” James hissed to Sirius, pushing him down the corridor.

“Where?” Sirius fumbled in his robes and yanked the Map free. “This way!” He grabbed James by the wrist and pulled him behind a tapestry. He whispered, “Edge along here. There’s a passage - yes! Here it is!” The two boys wedged themselves into the narrow space, holding their breath as Filch passed them by.

\--------

_Neville needs a path to Hogsmeade_

“How are we going to get more butterbeer before Saturday?” James kicked his trunk and sighed, hands on hips. “Why didn’t they ask us earlier so we could get it during the last Hogsmeade weekend?”

Sirius paced around the room. “We need a way to get to Hogsmeade. By tomorrow.”

“You know,” James said, a smile blooming, “there’s that passage we found but didn’t explore.”

“You’re suggesting we walk down an unknown tunnel?” Peter grimaced. “What if it collapses? What if we’re trapped?”

Sirius returned the grin and threw a pillow at Peter. “It’s going to be fine! Stop overreacting!”

“It’s not overreacting to worry about getting trapped in a tunnel that could be as old as this castle and not half as well maintained!”

“Look, you stay here and you can let someone know what happened if we don’t make it through.”

“Don’t make it through!” Peter gawked at the two boys and shook his head. “That’s madness. What if it collapses and you die?”

Sirius rolled his eyes and dug in his trunk. “James, give him your mirror.”

“Here, you keep this mirror,” James said, shoving it at Peter, “and we’ll take the other one. We’ll let you know if something happens.”

Peter frowned and crossed his arms, “Fine, but I don’t like this. If Remus were here he’d tell you not to go.”

“Well Remus isn’t here, and it’s going to be fine. C’mon Sirius, adventure awaits!”

“To the one-eyed witch!”

\--------

_Sybil needs to hide something_

“All right,” Remus said reluctantly, “I’ll admit the firewhiskey was a big hit for the end of year party. But now where are we going to hide the bottles?” He struggled to contain the glass bottles in his arms.

“Are we wizards, or aren’t we?” Sirius asked with a grin. He flicked his wand and all the bottles vanished.

\--------

_Harry needs a large space for a long term project_

James stared at the pieces of parchment spread all over their dorm. “This is getting out of hand.”

Sirius weighed down a large piece that seemed insistent on rolling up. He finally spellotaped it to the floor. “I agree completely.”

“Every time we work on this stupid map, it takes us almost as much time to spread it out as it does to add to it,” Peter agreed.

Remus nodded. “We need somewhere to keep it where we can just leave it out. All the time. Until it’s done and we can shrink it down to a manageable size.”

“But where?”

“What about the Shrieking Shack?” Sirius asked.

Remus gawked, pieces of the map still in his hand. “We can’t leave it there. The wolf will tear it to shreds!” 

“So we roll it all up for the full moon. We can leave it out the rest of the time…”

“Hmm… that’s actually not a bad idea…” James tapped his chin thoughtfully. With a decisive nod, he began gathering parchments. “Let’s gather this up. We’ll take it to the Shack tonight.”


End file.
